Finland celebrate as they score a win over Serbia on Saturday night in front of their home fans

Tampere, Finland, June 18, 2011 – Finland claimed a second win over Serbia in the 2011 FIVB Volleyball World League on Saturday in Tampereas they slipped past Serbia 3-2 (25-23, 25-23, 22-25, 20-25, 15-11) on Saturday evening.

After a 3-2 loss on Friday the hosts found a new gear in their playing and were a different team.

Finland and Serbia both played a great game with the 3,250 spectators going home satisfied. Spiker Mikko Oivanen was again the best scorer for the Finns with 22 points but this time he had help from Olli Kunnari with 18 points and Antti Siltala with 16.

The best Serbian scorer was this time Milos Nikic with 16 points.

Both teams started well with Finland taking the early lead. But Serbia fought back towards the end to claim a 23-22 edge. But Finland refused to back down and clawed themselves back to seal the set.

Both teams upped their serving game even more in the second set a the Finns began to put pressure on Serbia taking the lead. But the Serbs again fought back as they regained control before fate swung in Finland’s directions to give them a 2-0 lead.

Finland started the third set with difficult serves and great spikes to take a lead. This time Serbia’s fight back was not in vain as they moved ahead midway through the frame and held onto it despite Finland putting up a determined fight to make the scores 2-1.

Finland came storming into the fourth set and was leading by four points before making a number of mistakes to allow Serbia back into the lead. The visitors utilized a solid block to boost their advantage before claiming the fourth and taking it to a deciding set.

The fifth was an edge-of-the-seat affair as both teams traded points early on. But the hosts held their nerve to eventual steal the win, much to the elation of the home fans.